Rasulullah ﷺ said:
“من رأى منكم منكراً فليغيره بيده، فإن لم يستطع فبلسانه، فإن لم يستطع فبقلبه، وذلك أضعف الإيمان”
There is clearly a sequence here of decreasing accountability proportionate to one’s real capacity to effectively bring about change. But also, implicit in this hadith is a prohibition of futile strategies.
Insisting to try to change the evil by your hand, while you are unable to do so, is not acceptable; and protest which does not change the evil is also not sanctioned here. If an action does not work, it should not be undertaken.
Futile struggle against evil only emboldens the wrongdoers and weakens those who are trying to oppose them.
Direct action, if that will work; then protest if that will work, and finally silent disapproval if one finds no way to achieve change.
On the other hand, the hadith also clearly does not sanction adopting any strategy less than direct action if action will work. If one protests instead of undertaking more direct confrontational strategies which could effectively remedy the evil, then not only is he negligent in his duty, but also flawed in his Imaan. If one chooses complete inaction, while either action or protest could plausibly succeed, then in fact, even his disapproval of the evil is not sincere, and he is actually a collaborator with it.
It should also be kept in mind that these are not static states. The one who protests, or the one who is silently hating the evil, must always be struggling to discover how he can do more; how he can improve his effectiveness to be able to move up to the higher level of changing the evil directly through action